It's Friday! And a Giveaway!

Joining up with Jen  who is passing the torch to Kelly on this fine Friday morning...

1) 

Basketball season is well underway for my CYO playing boys this year.  It seems like their team is really good, and basketball is very fun and exciting to watch.  After soccer season, this feels much easier to handle!  Maggie and Eamon will start their town team in January.

I wish I was a little bit taller, I wish I was a baller...

2)

Phil and I are the kind of parents who don't give their kids money.  We don't do allowances and they have to complete a really big chore to get some compensation (usually in the form of eating out) but otherwise we expect them to help out around the house.  

We've had the same attitudes for grades.  We expect their best work, and when they get good report cards, we go out for Happy Meals (it works when they're little!).  

But...now that J-P is in middle school, we have been discussing a new approach for rewarding good grades/giving additional incentive to a kid that needs it, and I've talked to some moms who have wonderful kids older than ours, and we have decided to start paying him for good grades on his report card.

Who are we?

I never thought we would do this, but we had to reevaluate what wasn't working for him, and decided that once our kids reach middle school, they can get paid $3 for every A in a main subject on their report card.  

But here's the kicker...they have to pay us $2 for every B, and if there's any C the whole deal is null and void.  He has 6 "main subjects" and has the potential to earn $18 on each trimester's report card.  This first trimester, he owed us $2 :)

3)

My sister-in-law sent up DIY Advent Beeswax candles, and they are so cool!  Even though I'm the least bit crafty, there is something so rewarding about making something yourself.

4)

Eamon had his First Reconciliation last night!  

He was so nervous and kept asking me questions like:

 "What if I can't remember all my sins?" (God forgives all your sins, but you have to tell everything you can remember, and He knows the rest!)

"What if I forget the Act of Contrition?" (The priest will be more than happy to help you!)

"What if I only have four sins?" (Then you're awesome! Haha!)

We went to the Latin Mass before his sacrament, and after Mass I told him to examine his conscience, and snuck a photo of him doing just that:

Gosh I love him so.

Then we went out for ice cream afterwards!  It was a Clean Soul Partayyyy :)

Cousins

What was I thinking letting him order that?

Like mother, like sons.

5)

Phil and I have been eating this combination for lunch a few times a week - it's so easy to grab and bring to work:

+

=

6)

John-Paul has picked a topic for the science fair that looks relatively easy - phew!  It's how to turn dirty water into drinkable water just by letting the sun do it's work:

Pretty cool, right?

7)

And now for the giveaway! 

 Emily Ortega, author of the Bernadette book series, is graciously giving away a copy of her newest book, Christmas with Bernadette to one lucky reader!  

These are Maggie's favorite books, and such wonderful stories of a Catholic family.  There are so few fiction books out there that I feel comfortable letting her read, but Emily's books are perfect in every way - funny, entertaining, appropriate and have great messages.  I hope she writes twenty more!

To win your copy just leave me a comment, telling me what's on your Christmas wishlist!  

I'll let Maggie pick the winner on December 10th, so you'll have time to receive the book by Christmas!!!